Apple Care

[legalmoose]

To those of you who are already Apple users, is it worth purchasing Apple Care for an iBook? Is it more likely than not that I'll need some sort of service out of these folks that'll make the two hundred and some odd dollars worth the price?

Comments

[krimon.livejournal.com]

I'd say yes. My powerbook had several weird problems (culminating in a "faulty logic board", according to the computer repair store) over the first two or three years it was covered by Apple Care. (Of course, now that the warranty is expired, the comp has no problems whatsoever and I've sworn I won't get a new computer until this one goes on the fritz...)

When you get that bill, you'll realize that parts are bad enough, but labor is an absolute bloodletting without some sort of extended warranty.

[eyow.livejournal.com]

Consumer Reports did a page this month (well, Jan '05, I received it a couple of days ago) on extended warranties for various items. For the most part they're against them, because the chance of needing a repair within the time frame is often low, and thus extended warranties end up being extra money for the companies. But this is what they say about laptops in general:

"You might consider an extended warranty on a laptop computer. Laptops are expensive, fragile, and hard to repair. And the parts are made to fit within the manufacturer's unique case design. For that reason, you should buy the warranty from the manufacturer, not from the retailer. Also, with a manufacturer's warranty, you continue to enjoy access to free tech support."

And then the sidebar on the page was a list of products and their repair rate in the first three years of owning the product. Desktop PCs were highest, at 37%, then Laptop PCs were at 33%.

Yes!

[drewan.livejournal.com]

Always but the extended warranties on laptops. I've had three Apple laptops now, 2 iBooks and 1 Powerbook, and each Apple Care warranty has paid for itself several times over.

[robco.livejournal.com]

For a laptop, especially an iBook, I'd say yes. If you don't want to get it at the time of purchase, you have one year to buy it.

[plato4013.livejournal.com]

When in highschool I worked at microcenter and when they were used, the service plans were great deals. Repairs can be expensive. I've had two Macs and the only problem I had was when we had a power surge. I replaced the logic board myself and the power surge wasn't the fault of Apple. Sorry to not be more helpful, but it is just a gamble.

[ironmanjt.livejournal.com]

I don't believe in warranties on notebooks/laptops unless you're gonna do LOTS of hauling it around.

[topherwd.livejournal.com]

Get it. I'm on my second iBook. I used Applecare several times on the first one. I just used it on my current iBook. I would HIGHLY recommend it. Logic boards on iBooks seem to have issues... that's not to say they aren't lovely machines, of course.

[deejayqueue.livejournal.com]

Being an apple guru of sorts my feelings are mixed about applecare. I personally don't go for the extended warranty. However i'm also the type of person who would either know how to fix the problem myself or be the one who caused it, voiding any warranty i would have.

Apple has a pretty mixed track record with their computers as far as being shoddily made. you may get a good one, you may get a bad one. That's the gamble. Though if you're not a techie super-geek i'd recommend getting the service just to have the peace of mind.